She’s got the look and she’s got the talent. So why isn
There’s a moment in Thandie Newton’s latest movie – Guy Ritchie’s typical cockney crime caper, RocknRolla – when you genuinely feel for the girl.
In a world full of ‘Cor, blimey’ geezers and Del-Boy wannabes, well, Thandie Newton clearly doesn’t belong. Then again, maybe that’s why she took on the roll of top-of-the-range eye candy, Stella.
“Well, you’re always looking for the sort of role you haven’t played before,” smiles the 37-year old actress, “otherwise, you know, you’re in danger of not only boring your audience, but, worse still, yourself. So, the idea of playing this femme fatale roughing it in London’s East End, well, you know, bring it on.”
Newton certainly brings it on as an unlikely gangster’s moll who’s always one step ahead of her prey, but it’s not enough to save Guy Ritchie’s retreat to the Only Fools & Sawn-Offs of his first two outings, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). Having suffered bad reviews and empty cinemas when it came to 2002’s washed-up Swept Away and 2005’s pointlessly pretentious Revolver, Ritchie is banking on giving people what they previously wanted.
With uber-producer Joel Silver (think Jerry Bruckheimer, without the wit and charm) now shopping RocknRolla around other studios in the US, after Warners implied that it wasn’t quite for them after all, well, a lot is riding on the film’s success on this side of the water. Not that its leading lady seems all that bothered.
Just press play to view our video interview below.